NBA Rumors: Dallas Mavericks will ‘swing for fences’ in free agency
The Dallas Mavericks have been very aggressive in free agency over the last few seasons.
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The Mavericks let a good chunk of their championship leave after winning a title in 2011 and have attempted to pair future Hall-of-Fame forward Dirk Nowitzki with a superstar in each of the last two offseason. They thought they had a shot at Deron Williams, who attended high school in the state of Texas, but the veteran point guard decided to remain with the Brooklyn Nets instead. Then, last year, the Mavericks made a run at center Dwight Howard, trying to sell him him on teaming with Nowitzki, but he decided on the Mavericks’ in-state rival, the Houston Rockets, instead.
According to Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban, the Mavericks will be very aggressive in free agency.
“We’re going to swing for the fences,” Cuban said Saturday on 103.3 FM’s “ESPN Dallas GameDay via Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas,” his first interview since the Chandler trade. “I think some of these guys are opting out just to create leverage, and they’ll go back. Then there’s some that really want to go to different teams. We’ll try to put ourselves in position to get them.”
The Mavericks have already shown that they are going to be aggressive. They sent point guard Jose Calderon, center Samuel Dalembert, swingman Wayne Ellington, point guard Shane Larkin and two second round picks in Thursday night’s draft to the New York Knicks for center Tyson Chandler, who was part of the Mavericks’ 2011 title team and point guard Raymond Felton.